Candy Apple Red Factory Bigsby Telecaster
 

1971 Fender Telecaster (Factory Bigsby).

A rare custom color 1971 factory Bigsby Telecaster that weighs just 8.30 lbs. and has a nice comfortable nut width of just under 1 5/8 inches and a scale length of 25 1/2 inches. Solid alder body and one-piece fretted maple neck (with a skunk stripe) with 21 original medium frets and inlaid black dot position markers. The neck profile is consistently medium-to-thick all the way up the fretboard starting at 0.86 inches at the first fret and gently rising to 0.95 inches at the 12th fret. Individual Fender "F" tuners with octagonal metal buttons. Headstock decal with "Fender" logo in black with gold trim, "Telecaster" in black beside it, and two patent numbers "2,573,254" and "3,143,028" beneath "Fender." Single "butterfly" string tree with large nylon spacer. Four-bolt neck plate with large Fender "F" logo and serial number "325904" between the top two screws. One plain metal-cover pickup (at neck) with an output of 6.81k and one black six-polepiece pickup (angled in bridgeplate) with an output of 6.05k. Three-layer white over black plastic pickguard with eight screws. Two controls (one volume, one tone) plus three-way selector switch with black plastic "Top-Hat" tip, all on metal plate adjoining pickguard. Chrome knobs with flat tops and knurled sides. Fender factory 'floating' bridge with six 'ridged' saddles and factory Bigsby tremolo tailpiece. The neck is stamped in black "3 OCT 71B" and the pots are stamped "137 6632" & "137 6636" (CTS, July & August 1966). The Candy Apple Red finish is bright, fresh and unfaded. There is some light finish checking and some honest wear to the body, predominately on the sides. There is also some belt buckle rash on the back but this has not gone through the finish. Overall this rare custom-color guitar is in excellent (8.75) condition. Housed in its original three-latch Fender rectangular black hardshell case with black leather ends and red plush lining (9.00).

"The Bigsby vibrato tailpiece was first listed as an option in 1967...Guitars with a Bigsby tailpiece feature a six-piece bridge with threaded saddles and a base plate without any marking" (A.R. Duchossoir, The Fender Telecaster, p. 68). Because this guitar has a proper factory Bigsby, the strings don't go through the body, like they do on all Telecasters (except those made in 1958), and there are no ferrules on the back of the guitar.